EBS BULL #2444 7/94 CHAPTER 2/ SL 1992 WORK SCHEDULES TIME-OFF &
PARENTAL LVE
Chapter 2. Work schedules, paid timeoff and parental leave
The schedules worked by government employees, as well as a variety of plans that provided
time off with pay to workers, vary greatly by occupational group. Flexible work schedules were
found largely among white-collar employees, except teachers; while blue-collar and service
workers were most likely to work rotating schedules. And, teachers, more than the other
groups, were the most likely to have paid lunch as well as paid rest periods.
Survey coverage of paid leave benefits included provisions for lunch and rest periods; holidays
and vacations; and personal, funeral, jury-duty, and military leave. Paid and unpaid parental
leave were also surveyed. (Information on paid sick leave appears in chapter 3.)
Work schedules
The number of straight-time hours7 worked per week varied significantly by occupational group
(table 3). Nearly two-thirds of white-collar employees, except teachers, worked a 40-hour
week; the remainder generally worked 35 or 37.5 hours (7- or 7.5-hour days). Virtually all
teachers worked from 30 to 40 hours per week, which included paid lunch and rest periods, as
well as preparation and grading time if such activities were considered by the school to be a part
of the teacher's workday. Additional hours for extracurricular activities were included only if
considered part of the regular work schedule. Unlike the rest of the full-time government
employees, virtually all of whom were scheduled to work 52 weeks per year, about three-
quarters of teachers were scheduled to work 9 or 10 months. Almost all of the remainder
worked 8 months.
A small proportion of teachers did not have fixed work schedules. This group, consisting of
college and university-level instructors, were not required to work a set number of hours.
Instead, they worked the hours necessary to complete their duties, including class instruction,
research, and office hours. Such work schedules were rare for other employees.
Formal flexible work schedules were offered primarily to white-collar employees, except
teachers (table 4). Ten percent of white-collar employees had formal flexible work
arrangements, compared to 5 percent of blue-collar and service employees and 3 percent of
teachers. These structured flextime arrangements give employees the opportunity to begin and
end work within a specified range of hours while meeting overall requirements for total hours of
work. Limits on the amount of flexibility varied from plan to plan, but generally, employees were
required to work a core number of hours during the day.
Four percent of blue-collar and service employees were required to work rotating work
schedules. These schedules characteristically require long shifts of 10 to 24 hours followed by
several shifts off. Such schedules were prevalent for occupations, such as police and firefighters,
where operations are continuous. With few exceptions, all hours per week over 40, and hours
per day over 8, in table 3 were attributable to rotating work schedules for police and firefighters
in the blue-collar and service employee group. Rotating work schedules for white-collar
employees were rare.
Paid lunch and rest periods
Formal paid lunch periods were provided to 6 percent of white-collar employees, except
teachers and 68 percent were provided formal rest time, such as coffee breaks (table 5-6). In
contrast, 14 percent of teachers received paid lunch time, and just 20 percent received paid rest
time. Paid lunch time was provided to 13 percent of blue-collar and service employees while 64
percent had paid rest breaks.
The amount of time available for paid lunch averaged 34 minutes, as shown in the following
tabulation. Paid rest time, averaging 29 minutes a day, was provided most commonly as two
daily breaks of 10 or 15 minutes each.
White Blue
All partici- collar, Teachers collar
pants except and
teachers service
Lunch time—average
minutes per day 34 38 32 40
Rest time—average
minutes per day 29 29 29 29
Paid holidays
Paid holidays were provided to about 9 out of 10 employees in both the white-collar, except
teachers, group and the blue-collar and service group; these averaged 14.6 and 13.6 days per
year, respectively. Floating holidays and "personal holidays," such as employee birthdays, were
included in the holiday plans reported (tables 7-9).
Thirty-eight percent of teachers received formal paid holi-days. Only when benefit documents
specifically stated that teachers received paid holidays was the information tabulated as such.
Teachers are typically employed for a fixed number of days—for example, 180—over a 9- or
10-month contract. For many teachers, school holidays are not included in the days contracted
for and are therefore not designated as paid holidays.
When a holiday fell on a scheduled day off, such as a Saturday or Sunday, holiday policies
varied somewhat by occupational group. Another day off was regularly granted to 87 percent
of the white-collar participants, except teachers and to 92 percent of teachers. Most of the
remaining participants in these 2 groups received either another day off or an additional day's
pay, depending on when the holiday fell. For blue-collar and service participants, however, 80
percent were regularly granted another day off. The policy for 9 percent of participants
depended on when the holiday fell, while 5 percent always received an additional day's pay.
This difference may be attributed to the rotating work schedules of many blue-collar and service
employees, who often are paid for a specified number of holidays whether they work them or
not.
Paid vacations
Most white-collar employees, except teachers, and blue-collar and service employees were
provided paid vacations (tables 7 and 10-13). Like holidays, the incidence among teachers
was low (10 percent) because most were employed on a 9- or 10-month basis.
The average number of vacation days varied by length of service and occupational group. The
average vacation time for all participants was 12.4 days at 1 year of service, 18.4 days at 10
years, and 22.1 days at 20 years. Vacations for white-collar employees, except teachers, were
typically more generous than those for blue-collar and service employees at earlier lengths of
service, but this difference virtually disappeared as years of service increased. Teachers
receiving paid vacations generally showed less of an increase with length of service. Virtually all
employees received their regular earnings during vacation periods.
Four out of 5 employees with vacation plans had to complete minimum service requirements
before being allowed to take vacation. Teachers commonly had only a 1-month service
requirement, while a 6- or 12-month requirement was more common for the other occupational
groups.
In cases where holidays, vacation, sick leave days, or personal leave were combined under one
leave category and could not be shown separately, the total amount of time off was reported as
vacation time. These consolidated leave plans or "leave banks" have been adopted by a
number of establishments, most notably those that must always remain open, such as hospitals.
Three percent of full-time employees were covered by leave bank plans, which typically offered
a greater average number of days than other plans.
Anniversary-year bonus vacation days, such as an extra week of vacation at 10 and 20 years of
service, were included in the count of regular vacation time.
Carryover and cash-in provisions for unused vacation time were also examined. Seventy-one
percent of all workers covered were allowed to carry over at least some of their unused
vacation days into the next year; 2 percent were restricted to cashing in some or all of their
vacation days at the end of the year; and 9 percent had both cash-in and carryover provisions.
Seventeen percent lost vacation days that were unused at the end of the year. White-collar
employees, except teachers, were more likely to have carryover or cash-in provisions than were
teachers or blue-collar employees.
The average number of vacation days varied depending on the cash-in/carryover provision. At
nearly all lengths of service, a greater number of days were provided to those employees who
could carryover unused vacation days. These employees averaged about 3 days more per year
than employees without cash-in or carryover provisions.
Paid personal leave
Formal personal leave, which allows employees to be absent from work with pay for a variety
of reasons not covered by other specific leave plans, was provided to two-fifths of the full-time
employees (table 14). Over one-half of teachers received personal leave, while only about one-
third of employees in the other occupational groups had this benefit. Most commonly,
employees with this leave provision were eligible for 1 to 5 days; the average was 2.9 days per
year. Teachers averaged 2.6 days and both of the other occupational groups averaged 3.0
days. A few employees were provided as much personal leave as needed.
Paid funeral leave, jury-duty leave, and military leave
Nearly two-thirds of all employees were eligible for paid leave to attend funerals of family
members (table 15). Most received a set number of days per occurrence, with an average of
3.7 days. The average for teachers was slightly higher at 4.2 days per occurrence. One in 5
workers was in a plan where the number of days varied by relationship to the deceased, and
they were included in the count for those with a set number of days. The maximum number of
days off was reported for each plan that included this relationship provision. For some
employees who were not covered by a separate funeral leave plan, employers provided an
informal benefit or allowed employees to use other types of leave, such as paid sick leave days,
to attend funerals. (See chapter 3.)
Paid leave for jury duty was nearly universal (table 16). Such leave was usually provided "as
needed"; employer payments commonly made up the difference between an employees' regular
pay and the court's jury allowance.
Pay provisions for absences from work to fulfill military training or duty commitments, was
available to 87 percent of white-collar employees, except teachers, 85 percent of blue-collar
and service employees, and 76 percent of teachers (table 17). The number is lowest for
teachers because they often have unpaid time off in the summer. The most common provision
was 3 weeks or more off per year, but 12 percent of the workers were provided paid military
leave as needed. For workers with a specified number of days off, military leave averaged 17.0
workdays per year. The average number of days for teachers was slightly lower at 16.3 days.
Pay for military leave was either regular pay or the difference between regular pay and military
pay.8
Parental leave
Fifty-nine percent of all government workers were eligible for unpaid maternity leave; 44
percent were eligible for unpaid paternity leave (tables 18 and 19). Paid maternity and paternity
leave was virtually nonexistent. Parental leave plans were defined as separate from an
employee's other leave plans, such as sick leave and paid vacations, which might have been
used by new parents. Unpaid maternity and paternity leave generally could be taken after
regular paid leave was used, and could continue for a fixed period of time. Employees had a
reasonable expectation of returning to their own or a similar job following leave, although this
was not always specifically guaranteed.9
For plans that provided a fixed number of days of unpaid maternity or paternity leave, maximum
maternity benefits averaged 10.5 months and maximum paternity benefits averaged 10.9 months
in duration. The higher average for paternity leave resulted from the fact that plans with both
maternity and paternity leave often provided more days off than plans granting only maternity
leave. The effect of this was greater on the average for paternity leave because of the relatively
fewer workers involved survey wide. As shown below, the average varied slightly by
occupational group:
Unpaid maternity leave Unpaid paternity leave
(months) (months)
All participants 10.5 10.9
White-collar, except teachers 9.5 10.1
Teachers 11.0 10.8
Blue-collar and service 11.5 12.2
Individual plans differed considerably in the amount of unpaid time allowed, ranging from under
6 weeks to over 2 years. For teachers, who often work fewer days per year, the number of
days of parental leave provided appears less generous. For a teacher with a 180-day contract,
a year of parental leave was measured as 180 days, instead of the 260 days an employee with a
regular work schedule would receive. Thus, the average of 11.0 months of unpaid maternity
leave for teachers actually provides more than 1 full school year off.
Notes:
8 For further information on leave items in all sectors, see "Military and Other Leave Plans
Limited in Small Establishments", Monthly Labor Review, February 1992.
9 For additional details on parental leave plans, see Joseph R. Meisenheimer, "Employer
Provisions for Parental Leave," Monthly Labor Review, October 1989, pp. 20-24.